Container for granular materials



Oct. 6, 1959 G. H. PRIDE 2,907,503

CONTAINER FOR GRANULAR MATERIALS Filed April 16, 1954 IN V EN TOR.-.

United States Patent P zaotsq CONTAINER on GRANULAR MATERIALSApplication April 16 1954, Serial No. 423,601 ilci imrennet-).

This invention relates to an improvement in containers for, granularmaterials, such as sugar. and the like, and

its purpose is to provide a simpl e and. inexpensive shipping containerof such construetionthat the. major. portions thereof may be cheaplyandreadily returned to the shipper after the contents have been removedatthe destination of the shipment. v i

It is the usual practiceto package sugar and other similar materials incloth. or. paper bags so that they may be conveniently. handled duringshipment. For illustration, sugar is ordinarily shipped in bags eachconr .taining one hundred pounds bnt this. method. has not beensatisfactory because the bags frequently. break during shipment with aresulting loss, of the contents. As aresult, this lalmost inevitableloss is commonly included in the freight rates for the shipment ofsugar. In the eifort to avoid. losspsorn'e shippers have shipped sugarin large metal boxes each holding as much as thirty-five. hundred poundsofthis prodnct. This practice has reduced the loss occurs when the sugaris shipped in bags but there is "a substantial disadvantage in that theboxes, being preferably formed of light weight material such asaluminum, are expensive and, in addition, cannot be. stored in a smallspace and may be returned to the shipper only at considerable cost. Theprincipal object of the present invention is to overcome. e a ve metione .dif ti and. O h r by providing a novel form ofcontainer which maybe cheaply manufactured and which may be used for shipping purposes withlittle likelihood of damage to its contents. A further object of theinvention is to provide a shipping container for sugar and the likewhich is made up of complementary parts which may be readily assembledand disassembled so that it may be made to occupy a relatively smallspaee for storage orshiprnent. Another object of the invention is: toprovide a container for granular materials comprising a plurality ofcomplementary parts, one or more of which maybe discarded at thedestination of as hipinerit while permitting the remaining parts to bestored in small space and returned to the shipping point. Other objectsrelate to various features ofconstruction and arrangement which will appear more fully hereinafter. i i v The nature of the invention will beunderstood from the following specification taken with the accompanyingdrawings in which one embodiment is illustrated. In the drawings, i i

figure 1 shows an enlarged frontelevation of the improved container ofthe present inyention;

Fig. 2 showsa'top plane View of the container illustrated in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 shows an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig.1 with parts thereof broken away;

Fig. 4 shows an enlarged detailed section taken on the line 44 of Fig.2; A

Fig. 5 shows a transverse section through the middle portion of thecontainer when it has been laid on its side for the purpose ofdischarging its contents;

2,907,508 BatentedOct, 6, H259 Fig. 6 shows an enlarged vertical.section. similar to the lower left-hand corner of Fig. 3, illustrating amodified form of the invention; and i r 5 Fig. 7 shows a verticalsection. similar to...the. lower left hand corner of Fig. 3 illustratingstill another modification of the invention. i i

As illustrated in the, drawings, the invention comprises a lower plateor end wall. 10 and an upper end wall "or plate 11, both formedpreferably of aluminum on'li'ght weight metal, which are connected. by.an outer. cylindrical wall 12 which is formed preferably of. pape'ii orother flexible and collapsible material. The plates m and 11 are ofrectangular form. and. the lower plate 1 0 has secured to the undersidethereof. a pair. ofparallel skids or runners 13- which permit the forkof a lift truck to be inserted beneath the, plate '10 for the, purposeof moving the container during the operationfofloadingba freight car orother carrier. The. lower. plateqltlis provided with an upwardlyextending ring. or projection 10!: which is formed integrally therewithor secured thereto and which is adapted to haye. a telescopingengagement with the lower end of the annular Wall 12. The ring 10a isprovided around its outer margin with an annular groove. 10b and t heflexible wall, 12 is secured. to the ring 10a of the bottom plate bymeans of a metal strap or de 4 which x end ar und the outerfside of thewall 12 and which hasitswends secured together: by a seal 15, orthelike, after it has beendrawn tai1t,.thereby securing the annular wall 12in fixed. relation'to; the bottom wall 10. i 1 1 The; top plate .orcap11 has secured, thereto or formed integrally therewith a downwardlyextending ring.v 11a,

which has a telescoping engagement with the upper. end of the wall 12.The ring 11a is. provided withan. .annular groove 11b and the wall 12 isforced into this grooveand thereby secured to the top. plateoftthecontainer by means of a surrounding. metal strap or binder 16 which isdrawn ;taut around the wall'lz andathen seoured in the taut condition bya seal .1:7. onthelike which connects its oyerlapping'ends. i

The plates or caps 10 and 1 1, are spaced apart vand the annular. wall12 held in taut condition .bYmeans of spacing sleeves or rods; 20 whichextend between, the upper and lower plates and which have threadedengagement with internallythreaded sleeves -2l,i;each having anoutwardly extending annular flange- 21a which seats against the outerface of one of the plates. 10 .or'11. These sleeves are secured inposition on the plates by means ofbolts 22 which extendthroughthe platesand the annular flanges. 2 1a and which are engaged at their oppositeends by nuts 23. The external threads 2011.011 the spacing members orrods 20 extendjin opposite directions at the opposite ends of eachspacin'gmember sothat, upon rotation of a member. 20, by means'of'a pipewrench or the like, it draws the plates '10 andill together or forcesthem apart. Thus, by adjusting all of the spacing members 20 the plates10 and 11 may be separated in order to draw the annular wall 12 taut andhold it in that condition. In addition to performing the function ofspacing the end plates 10 and 11 apart and holding the annular wall 12in ,a taut condition,.the spacing members 20 serve to protect theannular wall 12 so that it is unlikely to be injuredduring the-shipmentof the filled container. i r Y I Thecontainer is filled through the topplate 11 through a central opening which is normally closed by a cover24, hinged at25 on the top plate and adapted to be secured at its otherside to the top plate by means of a latch 26 which engages a ring 27secured in the upper side of the top plate. A rubber ring 28 is securedwithin the central opening of the upper part of the top plate 11 andslightly overlaps the outer margin of the 'tacle.

opening inthe ring or projection 11a, thus forming a sealing ring whichprevents leakage around the central projection 24a of the cover whichextends downwardly from the under side thereof. When the container hasbeenv filled, the cover 24 may be swung to its closed position as'shownin Fig. 3 and secured in that position by means of the latch 26.

When the filled container reaches its destination, it may be turned onits side and then emptied after slitting the flexible collapsible wall12 along the slitting lines 12a, 12b and 12c which are marked on theouter surface of the wall 12 at the time of its manufacture. Thistubular member 12 is preferably formed of a plurality of layers of paperor the like which are glued together and which are arranged with thegrain of the material extending in right angular directions in adjacentlayers so that a strong and'durable outer wall is formed. After thiswall has been slitted along the lines 12a, 12b and 120, it may be turnedover a funnel 30, as shown in Fig. 5, and the flaps 12d which are formedon opposite sides of the opening in the wall by the cut made along theline 12a may be turned downwardly on the inside of the funnel to protectthe sugar or other material from direct contact with the upper open endof the funnel. In this way, the sugar or other granular material may bereadily discharged into a storage bin or other recep- -After thecontainer has been emptied, the binding straps 14 and 16 may be cut torelease the wall 12 from the end plates and 11 and these binding strapsand the Wall 12 may then be discarded. The end plates 10 and 11 with theskids 13 and the spacing members 20 may then be packed in a relativelysmall and compact bundle for shipment back to the place where thecontainer was originally filled, whereupon these parts may be assembledwith another flexible wall 12 and new binding straps for further use.

In Fig. 6 of the drawings there is illustrated a modified form of theinvention in which the lower plate 31, corresponding to the plate 10,has a ring or projection 31a which is provided around its outer edgewith a pair of grooves 31b intowhich the flexible annular wall 32 may beforced by a pair of binding straps 33' which have their ends securedtogether after being drawn taut, in the manner previously described.

The end plates of the container are preferably formed of aluminumorother nonabrasive metal of light weight so that they do-notaddmaterially to the weight of the package While at the same timelending themselves to thorough cleaning operations preliminary tore-use. In addition to cleaning the end-plates of the container, thecontents may be further protected by providing the end plates with innercover sheets 35 of paper or the like which extend transversely acrossthe inner faces of the annular rings of the end plates and which havetheir outer margins turned transversely so that they are concentric withthe outer wall 36 of the container, as shown in Fig. 7. Then, when abinding strap 37 is secured around the end of the flexible wall 36, thiswall as well as the flange of the cover plate 35, is forced into theannular groove 38b which is formed in the outer surface of the ringportion 38a of the end plate 38. After the contents of the containerhave been emptied the cover sheets 35 may be discarded along with theflexible annular wall 36 and the binding straps 37.

Although one form of the improved container has been shown and describedtogether with two modifications of certain features thereof, it will beunderstood that the 4 invention may be constructed in various otherembodiments which come within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim: A kn0ckdown type shipping container for granular materials suchas sugar and the like, comprising a readily disposable flexiblenon-metallic cylindrical tube open at its upper and lower ends, animperforate rigid bottom wall for closing the lower end of the tube,means securing the lower end of said tube to said bottom Wall, includingan upstanding cylindrical projection on said bottom wall having adiameter only slightly less than that of said tube and telescopicallyreceivedwithin the lower end portion of said tube, and a taut metalstrap wrapped around said lower portion of said tube for clamping thesame tightly around said cylindrical projection, a disposable linermember overlying said bottom wall and said upwardly extendingprojection, the edges of said liner member being clamped by said tautstrap between the periphery of said upwardly extending projection andthe inner surface of said tube, a rigid top wall for closing the upperend of said tube, means securing the upper end of said tube to said topwall, including a downwardly extending cylindrical projection on theunderside of said top wall having a diameter only slightly less thanthat of said tube and telescopically received within the upper endportion of said tube, and a taut metal strap wrapped around said upperportion of said tube for clamping the same tightly around saiddownwardly extending cylindrical projection, a plurality of internallythreaded sleeves on said top and bottom walls uniformly disposed outsidethe areas of said walls occupied by said cylindrical projections, rigidsupport rods extending between said top and bottom walls for supportingsaid top wall in spaced relationship with respect to said bottom wall,the opposite ends of said rods being threaded in opposite directions andbeing in threaded engagement with opposed ones of said sleeves in saidtop and bottom walls, whereby rotation of said rods about theirlongitudinal axes will vary the spaced relation of said top and bottomwalls and vary the degree of tautness of said tube, said top wall havinga centrally disposed opening therein having a diameter substantiallyless than that of said tube through which the interior of said tube maybe filled with the granular materials for shipment, a cover on said topwall for closing said opening, and means for securing said cover inclosed position, said tube and said disposable liner being readilydiscarded and the remaining parts of said shipping container beingsubject to convenient disassembly for easy return shipment when shippingcontainer has reached its destination and has been unloaded.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 10,902Daris May 9, 1854 145,116 McKiernan Dec. 2, 1873 513,269 Knop ..-]'an.23, 1894 532,632 Becker Jan. 15, 1895 726,941 Kertz -1 May 5, 1903880,347 Alligire Feb. 25, 1908 1,108,615 Paul Aug. 25, 1914 1,575,681Grifliths Mar. 9, 1926 1,632,412 McCrystal June 14, 1927 1,642,643Carruth Sept. 13, 1927 1,996,356 Traver -2..- Apr. 2, 1935 2,513,693Turbyfill July 4, 1950

